A dystopian novel, set in Superfrance, Potential Energy is a story about a world where the only source of energy is human energy and everybody's lives are preplanned on a government computer. The main character sees nothing wrong with executing people just because they are energy inefficient. A terrorist plot and a powerful being threaten to shake up his life. Meanwhile, a wife who dreams of someday dying of cancer, an evil senator, a reclusive neighbor, bumbling twins, a meticulous clockworker, and government bureaucrats obsessed with stacking incorrectly filed forms fill out a cast of Dickensian characters.